The invention relates to a delivery apparatus for keeping an article warm during transport, a delivery apparatus assembly for charging a delivery apparatus, a heater for heating an article, and a method for delivering an article.
Food products, such as pizza, are frequently prepared and cooked at a store location. The prepared food product is then delivered to a customer at a home or place of business.
A freshly cooked food product may be stored at the store location awaiting a delivery person""s transportation of the food product to the customer. It is common to prepare pizza and store it in a cardboard box. The cardboard box is placed under a heat lamp awaiting pickup by a delivery person. The delivery person then stores the cardboard box in a thermally insulated carrying case for delivery to the consumer. Despite these methods, the product may lose heat during storage and transportation and the temperature of the product may decrease. If the product becomes too cool, it may become unacceptable to a customer. As a result, attention has been directed at techniques for keeping a food product warm after it has been cooked.
The prior art describes delivery apparatus that can be used to keep food items warm during transportation. For example the following U.S. Patents describe such prior art delivery apparatus: U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,699 to Hyatt; U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,129 to Hyatt; U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,202 to Baldwin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,435 to Bostic; U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,006 to Frohlich et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,962 to Hyatt.
A delivery apparatus is provided according to the invention. The delivery apparatus includes a container for holding an article to be delivered and a heater. The container includes a housing forming an interior area and an opening. The opening is provided with a size sufficient to allow movement of the article from outside the container to within the interior area, and from within the interior area to outside the container. The heater is constructed and arranged for placement within the interior area and is provided for heating the article. The heater includes an electrically conductive coil and an electrical resistance heating element. The electrically conductive coil provides an electric current when exposed to a magnetic field. The electrical resistance heating element is provided in electrical connectivity with the electrically conductive coil.
The electrically conductive coil can include a primary coil and a secondary coil. The primary coil can be used for energizing or powering the electrical resistance heating element. The secondary coil can be provided for energizing or powering the enunciating device that can be included as part of the delivery apparatus. The enunciating device preferably includes a temperature sensor for sensing temperature within the interior area of the container, a temperature display for displaying temperature conditions within the interior area of the container, and a controller for controlling the enunciating device.
A delivery apparatus assembly is provided according to the invention. The delivery apparatus assembly includes the delivery apparatus and an induction range. The induction range includes a magnetic field generator for generating a magnetic field from electrical energy. The induction range can include a power cord for connecting the magnetic field generator to an electrical current power source. Preferably, the induction range is constructed to operate based on a 120 volt line voltage input or a 220 volt line voltage input.
The delivery apparatus can be characterized as a xe2x80x9ccordlessxe2x80x9d delivery apparatus because of the absence of a cord extending from the delivery apparatus outside of the container for attachment to a power source. Instead, power is generated within the heater by the electrically conductive coil provided in the presence of a magnetic field generated by the induction range. By providing the delivery apparatus as xe2x80x9ccordless,xe2x80x9d the user can avoid having to plug the delivery apparatus into an outlet for charging the heater.
A heater for heating an article is provided according to the invention. The heater includes an electrically conductive coil, an electrical resistance heating element, a heat sink, and a binder. The electrically conductive coil provides an electric current when exposed to a magnetic field created by an induction range. The electrical resistance heating element is provided for generating heat and is an electrical connectivity with the electrically conductive coil. That is, the electrically conductive coil provides current for operating the electrical resistance heating element. The heat sink is provided for storing heat generated by the electrical resistance heating element and releasing heat to heat an article. The binder is provided for holding the electrically conductive coil, the electrical resistance heating element, and the heat sink together. The binder can be provided as a separate container for enclosing and containing the heater components. Alternatively, the binder can be provided as a clip for holding the heater components together.
A method for delivering food is provided by the invention. The method includes a step of placing a delivery apparatus in a magnetic field to generate heat within the delivery apparatus, and then placing food within the interior area of the delivery apparatus. The method preferably includes a step of transporting the delivery apparatus containing food to a consumer. The step of placing food within the interior area preferably takes place after the apparatus is removed from the magnetic field, but can take place before the delivery apparatus is placed in the magnetic field or while the delivery apparatus is provided in the magnetic field.